THE TOBACCO BARN
After harvesting, the leaves are brought to curing barns. These are called Casa del Tabaco. These are large, tall, airy building where the tobacco is cured or dried. The tobacco barn is build so the front is facing due North. This allows sunlight to travel across the roof of the building in an East to West direction. This helps to maintain a uniform temperature inside the barn.

CURING TOBACCO IN BARNS
The leaves are tried into pairs and strung onto long poles. These pairs of leaves are called palmas. The palms are hung on poles that are progressively moved to the top of the drying barn. The entire drying process takes about 45-60 days. During this drying period, the leaves turn from green to yellow to dark brown. During the entire drying process the leaves are carefully watched so they will not try too quickly and lose their precious flavor giving oils. Workers keep a close eye on the ambient temperature and humidity, as well as rainfall. Doors and shutters are opened and/or closed accordingly.

FERMENTATION OF TOBACCO
When the leaves are cured or dried, they must be fermented. This is usually done twice, with the exception of leaves destined to produce the Cuban Cohiba which is fermented three times. Two fermentation’s take between 30-90 days depending on the class of tobacco. In the process the leaves are carefully and individually laid upon each other into a pile.

The pile is called a burros and is covered with cloth. Tobacco is moistened to 25% – 30% humidity. This reduces resins in the leaf and they attain a uniform color. In the second fermentation the leaves are moistened with a proprietary mixture of water and tobacco stems. This is a more aggressive fermentation which removes odor and some gases. This reduces ammonia and nitrogenous gases (molecule of nicotine).

BALES OF TOBACCO
The cured or fermented tobacco s then packed into large bales. The bales are wrapped in burlap. They are then brought to factory warehouses. The leaves continue to develop in bales and mature for as long as they are stored.

Pre-1992 Dominican and Cuban tobacco bales matured and developed for three to five years. With the current demand on premium hand rolled cigars this time has been greatly reduced.

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Two Types of Plants

The cigar is made in three parts. The filler is the inside part of the cigar and is made from three different leaves. The binder leaf holds the filler in place. The wrapper is the skin or outside of the cigar and gives it beauty.

Few tobacco plants are capable of producing a leaf with proper quality to be used as a wrapper. In Cuba, the wrapper comes from the Corojo plant. The corojo or wrapper plant is usually grown under great muslin cloths. This keeps the plant out of direct sunlight. This produced leaves that are pale in color and with ultra fine qualities that are the best for use as a cigar wrapper or finished leaves.

Corojo plants are grown under a muslin cover. Sunlight is not allowed to hit the leaves and thus produces a leaf that is pliable.

The corojo plant is named after the famous El Corojo Vega or plantation. This where the seeds were developed. This variety produces one type of leaf. The capa or wrapper. It costs more to produce this leaf than other tobaccos.

Corojo leaves are grouped into seven levels on the stem. This is for purposes of harvesting and classification. Wrapper leaves are also classified by color. Claro (light brown), Colorado Claro (mid brown), Colorado (dark brown), and Maduro (black).

There are eight or nine pairs of leaves on a Corojo plant. Each level on the plant has its own name. Leaves from these levels are picked individually as the reach maturity. This is usually each six to seven days. Harvesting the leaves of a single plant takes over forty days to complete.

Criollo plants are grown in direct sunlight. This produces plants with a wide variety and the greatest intensity of flavors for various blends.

The criollo plant produces four of the five leaves that are finally blending to create a myriad of flavors found in many of the different premium cigars produced worldwide. Criollo is the perfected strain of theonly true Cuban seed tobacco.

The Criollo plant produces six or seven pairs of leaves. These classified as Ligero (top leaf), Seco (middle leaf), Capote (lower leaf), and Volado (bottom leaf).

The Ligero, or top leaf, has the strongest flavor as it is exposed to the most sunlight and is the oldest. The Seco, or middle leaf, is usually larger than the ligero and has a milder taste. The Capote, or lower leaf, is milder yet. The Volado, or bottom leaf is the mildest of all as it is exposed to the least amount of sunlight.

Tobacco is grown in tropical parts of the world. Tobacco produced in areas such as: Africa, Brazil, Canary Islands, Connecticut, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, Sumatra, is used to provide leaves that are utilized in various components of the cigar.

Plantations are found away from cities and share some similarities. They are usually large plots of fertile land that are staffed by highly qualified farmers, growers, and technicians that are responsible for all steps in producing superior tobacco destined to become the worlds finest premium cigars.

Land used to grow tobacco is carefully prepared prior to each planting. Tobacco is never planted immediately after a previous crop has been harvested. Crop rotation, tilling and utilizing specially formulated fertilizers along with creating superior genetic seed varieties are the primary objectives to superior tobacco cultivation.

Tobacco plants are planted in succession from late September onwards. It takes 45-60 days to reach maturity. From 30-40 days onward, leaves are systematically removed from the plants. They are not allowed to flower. This extends the useful growing to 4-5 months. Harvesting takes place from mid January through late March. When harvesting, leaves are picked two at a time.

(Tobacco shown in large photo is 135 days old and stands 54″ tall. Tobacco shown in small photo is 9 days old.)